My INNOVO® Journey | Harriette Foulks-Arnold

35 year old Harriette first started experiencing bladder weakness after the birth of her first child. She had an intense, 4.5 day labour and a forceps delivery of her daughter who came out at 9lbs 8 (!), so her pelvic floor experienced quite a trauma.

Like many of us, the onset of these somewhat unexpected leaks had a huge impact on her confidence and her ability to simply carry out day to day activities.“I was having to do a recce of where the toilets were whenever out and about”, says Harriette, and the little ‘me-time’ things she used to enjoy, like going out for a run became increasingly difficult.

“As a new mum, you’re exhausted as it is, and you become accustomed to getting up regularly during the night for feeds etc. Adding to this regular trips to the toilet, made me feel even more tired and meant I couldn’t fully enjoy the day with my daughter”.

Pregnancy and childbirth is one of the biggest causes of bladder weakness in women, as well as the menopause & heavy impact sports. The stress placed on the pelvic floor throughout pregnancy and birth can weaken or damage these all-important pelvic floor muscles, resulting in an inability to control bladder leakage. This tends to worsen over time if left untreated, and many women are still experiencing leaks 7 years after childbirth.

Pelvic floor exercises are often prescribed for pregnant women to undertake pre & post birth, however these are quite tricky to get right as the muscle sits deep inside the body.

“I tried a number of ways to treat my leaks, including pelvic floor exercises, but realistically, it just goes out the window when you have a busy life, a new born and you just forget to do it” says Harriette.“I also saw a physio for an internal examination, which was quite shocking at first, but this confirmed how bad my pelvic floor muscles were, and I realised I just needed to sort it out”.

If women have particularly weak pelvic floor muscles (like in Harriette’s case), they may find it difficult to recruit this muscle on their own at all, meaning the time spent doing these exercises is often wasted.

“When I first heard about INNOVO® I thought, why not give it a go, I certainly wasn’t spending the time I was supposed to with the pelvic floor exercises so I was game for anything. Once I read the instructions, it was really straightforward. I’d use my ironing board to lean against and put Downton Abbey on and have half an hour to myself knowing I was doing some exercise internally. I’d definitely recommend it to a friend”Harriette explains.

We asked Harriette – what can you do now that you are leak free thanks to INNOVO®? Here’s how she answered:

I can complete a 10k run without having to stop for the toilet

I can bounce up and down on a trampoline with my daughter

I can sneeze without feeling embarrassed

I can sleep through the night without having to get up every few hours

I can go swimming without feeling worried

INNOVO® is used for just 30 minutes per day, five days per week for up to 12 weeks in the comfort & privacy of your home. It’s clinically proven to work with 95% of users seeing a significant reduction in leaks in as little as 4 weeks1. A proven solution or a lifetime of pads? Now’s the time say hello to INNOVO® and goodbye to bladder weakness.

1 in 3 Irish Women experience bladder weakness

Related articles

Get the latest from INNOVO®

First Name

Last Name

Email

I have read, understood & agree to your Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy. I understand that by submitting my details and proceeding to SIGN UP, I agree to the use of my personal information as set out in the Privacy Policy.